Grey's castration one week on

People who know Grey have commented on what a changed dog he is lately. I think it's too soon after the op to put it all down to the castration. He had also started to change in his behaviour in the weeks running up to the op too. So I reckon it's a combination of things coming at the same time. Grey seems to have turned a corner in hi behaviour and energy levels. He no longer greets people at home by jumping rudely up at them or me. He does a new move of sitting in front, turning round so he's sitting backwards and puts his chin up to gaze lovingly at them eliciting chin rubs and he leans into their legs and if it goes really well he might end up sliding down to the floor for a belly rub!

I think my own behaviour and body language towards him has also changed, so as a consequence his general behaviour has modified. He's generally a very much calmer dog and has since the op developed into a real cuddle monster. We have a lot of people staying at the house at the moment including a baby. He's taken it all in his stride and has coped with all the new noises and activity. We moved a sofa into the dining room where we spend a lot of time now and he's taken up residence on there with a fleecey blanket and likes nothing more than to lie squished up next to someone on it.

If this is the sign of the new manageable Grey I feel really positive and proud of him.

His wound is healing up nicely. He's not had a buster collar on and didn't lick his wound much at all. His scrtoum is shrinking away nicely. It doesn't look that attractive at the moment! But then who's looking!?

Yesterday we took him up to London in the car to visit a few shops in Islington. He was allowed in all the shops and he was so well behaved and managed brilliantly. His fear period seems to have come to an end, thank god. He was on the halti and more or less walks nicely on it. It's no great love affair with the head collar, but he's manageable. We're awaiting delivery of the Dogmatic which should be sturdyier and fit him better under the eyes.

He's been on strict lead walks only all week, which I think have also done him good. It's broken the link that a walk means pull until you get to the free offlead romp. I'm going to take him for a free running bit this morning. Tomorrow we have a first training session with Charlie. Looking forward to his opinion.

A week's a long time in puppy world

I've not been updating on daily Grey the last week. Bad of me, as he's been up to quite a lot! But I did go back to work a couple of days this week, leaving him with his favourite person, L.

Some things sort of slipped me, which reminds me to remember that some things are not to panic about and just a phase that he went through. One instance is barking. He went through about five weeks of barking at night, barking at things that spooked him. So for the last week, we've managed to get through the night without him reacting to every single noise he hears outside the house by rushing round barking. I'm glad we more or less just ignored him throughout this. It's thankfully a lot quieter now.

Other news is that he's now on a strict regime of LLW training. That's loose lead walking. We don't go on walks anymore where he's allowed to pull. If we have to go from A to B he's on the Gencon. But mostly I try not to take him anywhere except training. It still feels like an unending uphill struggle and that the little monkey relly won't ever get it. Two days ago I was reminded to return to one of the first books I bought: Ian Dunbar's Before and After You Get Your Puppy. There was quite a nice process for getting out of the house. Ian recommends showing the pup the lead, cue excitement, wait and wait for pup to quiet and sit on his own. Strictly no asking him to sit. Then clip on the lead, cue excitement, wait for a sit, then take a step to the door, wait for a sit and so on. Get out the house, wait for a sit. Go back in and repeat, until you have a calm process for this. He then uses this approach for the walk. Only trouble I have with this is that when I take a step forwards, Grey does too. We really didn't get past the one step forward and stop. But it was an interesting couple of sessions. Lots of whining and crying from Grey out of sheer frustration at not getting what he wanted. It was a milestone I think.

Then the next day, my copy of Helen Philips' Clicker Gundog arrived. Her LLW method is to stop dead when the dog hits the end of the lead and lean backwards. Click for dog looking back and feed at the side. Then a crucial difference. She says the walk has ended and so count to ten, then regather yourself and start again. This is to stop the yo-yo action of the dog boinging forwards after taking the treat. I tried this method. I did see a little improvement, but by today, I've still got a dog who shoots forward after my first step. Will he ever learn?